menu_book Chapter 10

Chapter 9, Part 1 of Life and Times of Joseph Warren by Richard Frothingham. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Destruction of the Tea Warren on New Year's Day The Patriots in Union

Hutchinson's Speech Death of Elizabeth Warren The Call for a Congress Tea Importation Action of Philadelphia

Proceedings of Boston The Destruction of the Tea Contemporary Vindication 1773 January to December

Warren was required to devote himself still more to the public service by being a member of the Committee of Correspondence. Its records attest as continuous labors in the Patriot cause. This committee, as the executive power of the Whigs, took the lead in the measures that resulted in the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor,

and Warren was in the foreground of the whole action in this great crisis. I know of no revolutionary deed more worthy of a careful analysis and a grateful remembrance. It brought into requisition the press, the club, the public meeting, and the new party organization. This act of self-preservation, like a decisive battle, influenced the course of events. Warren passed the evening of New Year's Day with a circle of kindred spirits,

among whom were Cushing, Pemberton, and John Adams, whose diary supplies a glimpse of this social occasion. The conversation, mostly political, turned on matters in Rhode Island, the judges' salaries, the town meetings, and recent lucubrations by General Brattle, a Tory, and there was good-natured bandage on each other's characters. Adams remarked of Cushing that he never knew a pendulum to swing so clear. Warren repeated a remark of Pemberton that John Adams was the

proudest and cunningest fellow he ever knew, adding that he, Adams, was rather a cautious man, but he could not say he ever trimmed. When he spoke at all, he spoke his sentiments. Adams, in his diary of this day, renewed his determination to devote himself to the pleasures and duties of private life. In another place he writes, I have never known a period in which the seeds of great events have been so plentifully sown as this winter. A providence is visible in that concurrence

of causes which produce the debates and controversies. The political horizon, aglow with the harbingers of a new American day, seemed to the learned and the unlettered the sign of a providence beckoning them on. This feeling is seen in every great step towards the goal of nationality. I state a fact as certain as the revolution. What was then faith is now sight. It is plain that these signs were indications of the undercurrent that was setting towards

independence. Still, it was a tendency rather than an aim, the working of ideas rather than the plan of man. The immediate object of the Whigs, as they formed themselves into a national party, whether they acted in Virginia or in Massachusetts, was, in the common expression of their great thought, a union of all the colonies on the continent. They saw in this union not merely the unconquerable arm of America, but a blessing to mankind. It became a part of their religion

to promote it. They yearned for it as though they appreciated what it would be in its development. as though they felt there was hanging on it, humanity, with all its fears, with all the hopes of future years. The declarations of the towns, in answer to the Boston November meeting, manifested great similarity of political sentiment,

and, besides zeal for union, they showed a determination to hold on to their local government. The Boston Committee of Correspondents say, in one of their replies, a large number show that a uniformity of sentiment, though expressed in a variety of language, runs through them all.

Freedom from every legislation on earth but that of this province is the general claim. And the committee, as if to meet a growing altruism, wrote, We do not aim at freedom from law and lawful authority, but from the tyrannical edicts of a British parliament and ministry. The movement received warm commendation in the press and in other colonies,

and the members, cheered by the uprising and the union, placed on their records an expression of the faith, that Providence would crown the efforts of the colonies with success, and thus their generation would furnish the example of public virtue worthy of the imitation of all posterity. The Tories took a different view of the signs of the times. Hutchinson, keenly sensitive to any supposed invasion of the national sovereignty,

but extremely dull to any violations of constitutional rights, saw in the Boston report a culmination of the theory as to local powers, which he characterized as a total independence of Parliament, and regarded the movement as tending to sedition and mutiny. He said, the contagion which had begun in Boston was spreading through the towns. They succeed in their unwearied endeavors to propagate the doctrine of independence upon

Parliament and the mischiefs of it every day increase. What can be more insolent than the resolves passing every day in the province. Every day, through the unwearied pains of the leaders of the opposition, made proselytites to those new opinions of government. He wrote, January 7, 1773,

that he had discovered that the same persons who laid this dangerous plot of drawing in all the towns in the province meant, when this was done, to issue a circular from the House of Representatives and to endeavor to effect the same thing in all the assemblies on the continent. He said that, since he had been governor, he had avoided, as far as it was possible,

the points of controversy between the kingdom and the colonies, but a measure had been entered upon, which, if pursued, must work a total separation from Great Britain, and, were he to do nothing, he might be charged with conniving at proceedings which he ought to have opposed with all the means at hand. He therefore determined, in a consultation with his confidential friends, though not with the advice of his counsel to present the administration's side to the general court. Though it might not have

the effect he could wish on the assembly, still he hoped it might change the minds of the people. In brief, the governor, in this official way, resolved to make an appeal to public opinion. Hutchinson, accordingly, January 6, 1773, opened the session of the general court with a speech containing an elaborate defense of the theory of the supremacy of Parliament in all cases whatsoever, and an arraignment of the towns which had denied this theory.

He reached the conclusion that, in consequence, the bonds of government were weakened, and its authority was made contemptible. It was a subtle and thorough presentation of the Tory side of the controversy, which was much praised by the friends of the author, though deeply regretted in England. The House returned a keen, searching, triumphant reply, which was an uncommonly able exposition of the Whig side and elicited the warmest eulogies from the Patriots.

John Adams related, years afterwards, that the committee charged with framing this reply invited him to aid them, and that, at their first meeting, they exhibited a draft, neatly and elegantly prepared, which at the insistence of Samuel Adams had been drawn up by Warren. It was, Adams says, full of those elementary principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity which have since made a figure in the world, principles which are founded in nature and eternal, unchangeable truth, but which must be well understood and cautiously applied. It contained, however, no answer to the governor's constitutional points.

Adams criticized it freely and, by request, revised it. He drew a line over the eloquent parts of the oration, introduced legal and constitutional authorities, and met with the committee several evenings until the reply was completed. He says, The effect on public opinion was beyond expectation. There is undoubtedly a certain correctness in the long relation of Adams.

Warren probably, on some occasion, prepared such an oration, and Adams rendered the critical service which he described. But he attributes to this reply an effect on public opinion that can only be ascribed to the Boston town meeting of November, and, according to Bancroft, this masterly answer of the House was from the pen of Samuel Adams.

I have stopped the progress of the towns for the present, Hutchinson wrote, February 18, 1773, and I think I have stopped the prosecution of another part of the scheme, which was for the assembly to invite every other assembly on the continent to assent to the same principles.

This part has been acknowledged to me by the speaker, Cushing, who is in all these measures. The quietness that continued in other colonies favored this view. A general state of quiescence, Arthur Lee wrote to Joseph Reed, February 18, 1773,

seems to prevail over the whole empire, Boston only excepted. I admire the perseverance with which they pursue the object of having their violated rights redressed. Hutchinson had neither intimidated the metropolis nor stopped the meetings in the country. Boston had, in its usual annual commemoration of the

massacre, when Warren was on the committee that matured the business, and three days later, March 8th, he was appointed a member of an able committee, Samuel Adams being the chairman, to vindicate the November town meeting from the aspersions of Hutchinson. This committee, in an elaborate paper, advocated the right of the towns to assemble to consider political matters, went at length into the subject of the meeting, and treated briefly the question of parliamentary supremacy, urging that it was impossible for Parliament to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever without violating rights belonging to the people as men, as Christians, and as subjects, or without destroying the foundation of its own constitution. They said it was an unspeakable satisfaction that so many towns and so many gentlemen of figure in other colonies had endorsed the November movement.

It adds a dignity to our proceedings, are there words, that the House of Representatives, when called upon by the governor to bear their testimony against them, saw reason to declare that they had not discovered that the principles advanced by the town of Boston were unwarrantable by the Constitution. An expression of this feeling, that the town was acting in harmony with all friends of the cause, is frequently seen. The proceedings of the November town meeting were sent by the Boston Committee to the leading Whigs of Virginia and other colonies. Meantime, the burning of the Gatsby in Rhode Island occasioned fresh legislation by Parliament defecting personal rights.

When the Virginia Assembly came together in March, Dabney Carr moved the memorable resolutions that formed a colonial committee of correspondence for that colony and invited all the assemblies on the continent to join them. This was another great step. It was the organization of a national party. It filled the hearts of the Boston Patriots with joy. The reception of the truly patriotic resolves, Samuel Adams wrote to Richard Henry Lee, of the House of Burgesses of Virginia gladdened the hearts of all who are friends of liberty. Our committee of correspondence had a special meeting on the occasion and determined to circulate immediately printed copies of them in every town in the province. I am desired by them to assure you of their veneration for your most ancient colony and their unfeigned esteem for the gentlemen of your committee.

I hope you will have the hearty concurrence of every assembly on the continent. And the Patriot gave an assurance of the hearty cooperation of Massachusetts. Hutchinson, when he saw the action of Virginia, abandoned the feudal claim of having thwarted the Patriots, urged that their triumph would be greater than ever

if their doings were allowed to pass unnoticed by the ministry, said that something should be done, though he was at a loss to say what it should be, and endeavored to rouse his party to decisive action. He complained that, after the delivery of his last address,

the government was deserted and alleged that a dozen of the best men on his side had left the general court when it was in their power to have given affairs a turn in favor of the Tory cause. While engaged in the labors of the committee and doubtless sharing the general joy, Warren's home became a house of mourning by the death of his wife.

She left four children. The Boston Gazette, May 3rd, 1773, has the following notice and tribute. On Tuesday last, Mrs. Elizabeth Warren, the amiable and virtuous concert of Dr. Joseph Warren in the 26th year of her age. Her remains were decently interred last Friday afternoon.

If fading lilies, when they droop and die, robbed of each charm that pleased the gazing eye, with sad regret the grieving mind inspire. What then when virtue's brightest lamps expire? Ethereal spirits see the system's right, but mortal minds demand a clearer sight. In spite of reason's philosophic art, a tear must fall to indicate the heart. Could reason's force

disarm the tyrant foe, or calm the mind that feels the fatal blow. No clouded thought had discomposed the mind of him whom heaven ordained her dearest friend. Good sense and modesty with virtue crowned, a sober mind when fortune smiled or frowned. So keen a feeling for a friend distressed, she could not bear to see a worm oppressed. These virtues fallen enhance the scene of woe, swell the big drops that scarce confinement know, and force them down in copious

showers to flow. But know, thou tyrant, death, thy force is spent, thine arm is weakened, and thy bow unbent. Secured from insults from your grisly train of marshaled slaves to inflict disease and pain, she rides triumphant in the aerial course to land at pleasure's inexhausted source. Celestial genii line the heavenly way and guard her passage to the realms of day. The Massachusetts Gazette of May 20, 1773 has the following.

About this time, Samuel Adams was requested to name one or more persons for membership of the London Society for Supporting the Bill of Rights, the main object of which was the preservation of the English Constitution as it had been established at the Revolution. In reply, Adams wrote to Arthur Lee, a member, as follows. I can with the greatest integrity nominate my two worthy and intimate friends, John Adams and Joseph Warren Esquires, the one eminent in the profession of law and the other equally so in that of physic, both of them men of an unblemished moral character and zealous advocates of the common rights of mankind. At the election of representatives in May, Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and William Phillips received nearly all the votes, the largest number being 418 and the lowest being only five less.

The committee chosen by the town to prepare the customary instructions to them consisted of Warren as the chairman, Benjamin Church, Joseph Greenleaf, Nathaniel Appleton, and William Cooper. The draft probably was by Warren. It regarded the unanimity of the election at the important juncture as evidence of the confidence which the people reposed in the ability of these patriots and their inflexible attachment to constitutional rights, and of the general conviction that they would vigorously oppose encroachments on their ancient privileges and never betray their

constituents by surrendering the powers of framing laws and taxes for the people to any usurper under heaven. These terms indicate the ardent character of this paper. It was quite elaborate. It dwelt on political grievances and claimed the privileges and powers of the commons of the colony as the legislation were as uncontrollable within the colony as were the commons of England within the realm, but that both were subject to the revision of the king. It closed by warmly commending the

plan proposed by the noble patriotic sister colony of Virginia with the most sanguine expectation that a union of councils and conduct among the colonies by the smiles of heaven would assuredly fix their rights on a solid basis. The legislature, which met in May, promptly responded to the union action of Virginia by choosing a legislative committee of correspondence. It was soon announced that Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire had joined in this action, and it was said June

14th in the press, the day of important day is come of old by our prophetic ancestors foretold of a union of the colonies. Under this couplet, which heads an article, is the following, Things are moving with a rapid progress to complete the triumph of freedom in America. The hand of providence is evidently working out our political salvation. Experience has taught Americans their strength and importance among nations,

and wisdom has now led them to adopt a plan of union. One nationality was the inspiring and elevating thought. No people, it was said, that ever trod the stage of the world have had so glorious a prospect as rises before the Americans. There is nothing good or great but their wisdom may acquire,

and to what heights they will arrive in the progress of time no one can conceive. The demand for a Congress of all the colonies was frequently made in the press and on festive occasions. An elaborate essay by a Philadelphian is reprinted in the Gazette of the 15th of March, filling in a side and a half which recommends a Congress in order to form a court like that of the Amphictians of Greece. A spirited appeal in this paper of the 2nd of August urges a meeting

of American states. Britons attend, Americans give ear are its words. The people of this continent are awakened by the cause of liberty and are now forming plans to preserve it in perfection to future ages. There should be a meeting of American states, composed of members chosen by the several houses of representatives in the colonies, to consider what measures will most effectually preserve the liberties and promote the prosperity of America. Let every man of sentiment and

patriotism rouse up his genius. The 14th of August, the anniversary of the uprising against the Stamp Act, was celebrated with great spirit when a large procession marched from Boston to Roxbury. A union flag floated over the tent in which the company had their entertainment, and among the toasts were the patriotic House of Burgesses of our ancient sister colony of Virginia, a constitutional and permanent union of the colonies in North America,

the Sons of Liberty throughout America. I have nothing to relate of Warren especially, until he acted with his brother Patriots on the tea question. His name is not connected with the publication of the letters of Hutchinson and others, supplying proofs of their agency in introducing arbitrary power, which caused great excitement.

Nor is there any identification of his contributions to the press, though there is much matter written in his style. For instance, a communication in the Gazette, September 27th, signed W, is in the same elevated tone of citations already made. It must awaken, are the words, all the feelings of humanity

to behold a prospect of liberty for the many millions who compose our growing empire and entail it to future ages. This is a blessing for which we cannot too long and too earnestly contend, and I trust all future generations will bless the present for their manly exertions and so noble a cause.

We long wandered in uncertainty, and our motions were eccentric, but we have now reduced American policy to a system, first formed by our vigilant brethren of Virginia, the grand principles of which are that a constant correspondence shall be maintained between the colonies and nothing important be transacted without consulting the whole. Hutchinson's letters of this period are very voluminous. He had much to say of the grand incendiary Samuel Adams. Our principal incendiary, he wrote, has a great deal of low art and cunning, and he related the success of the scheme of forming committees of correspondence.

He said, July 10th, We have now subsisting in this province committees of correspondence in most of the towns of the province, committees of the House and Council to correspond with their respective agents to effect the removal of the governor and lieutenant governor, and for other purposes, a committee of correspondence of the House to concert with committees of correspondence

with other assemblies and to give information. He was in hopes the colonies would not unite in the proposed measure of a Congress, was much cheered after a trip into the country, to find the excitement which the publication of his letters occasioned had subsided, and wrote, September 6,

In a late journey to the remote parts of the province, I was surprised to find the flame, which had spread so universally, so soon and so generally extinguished. Soon after the statement in the press just cited, of a general understanding that the patriots of one colony would transact nothing important without consulting the patriots of the other colonies, reached through intercolonial committees of correspondence or a national party organization, it was announced that there was to be an insidious importation of tea on which the duty had been retained.

I need go no further into general history than to state that the king resolved to try the question with America by this tax, and, at his suggestion, an act was passed by Parliament authorizing the East India Company to export tea to America, duty-free in England, but subject to the existing three-pence tax in America, which was to be paid into the national treasury by the company's agents. It was designed in this way to collect the duty and obtain a recognition of the supremacy of Parliament. The fact was announced in a Philadelphia journal September 29th in a letter from London dated August 4th as follows. The East India Company have come to a resolution to send 600 chests of tea to Philadelphia and the like quality to New York and Boston. and their intention, I understand, is to have warehouses and sell by public sale four times a year as they do here.

The company, on receiving the requisite license, made consignments of T's simultaneously to Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston and selected certain persons in each of these ports to act as consignees or, as they were called, T commissioners. This new practical issue turned discussion at once from questions having mainly a local bearing as that of the judge's salaries, royal instructions, and the Star Chamber Commission in Rhode Island to the original question of taxation, which bored directly on all the colonies. All America was in a flame about this insidious tea importation. The political matter in the press now became more abundant than ever.

Differences of opinion are seen as to the way the duty on the tea was to be paid. We know, it was said, that on a certificate of its being landed here, the tribute is, by an agreement, to be paid in London. Landing, therefore, is the point in view, and every nerve will be strained to obtain it. It was asked in New York,

and the only thing practicable was to follow in popular action the irregular mode, which had been so long customary in England. In this way, it was determined to thwart the designs of the East India Company. Public opinion was first brought to bear on the consignees. An able hand bill was circulated in Philadelphia, headed,

By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall, signed Sivala and addressed to the commissioners appointed by the East India Company for the sale of teas in America. They were characterized as political bombardiers to demolish the fair structure of American liberty and it was said that all eyes were fixed on them and they were urged to refuse to act. This was followed by a great public meeting held at the state house

which passed a series of resolves against this tea importation and requested the tea consignees to resign. They soon bowed to public opinion and relinquished their trust. The hand bill just referred to was reprinted in the journals of New York where the merchants assembled and thanked the captains and owners of the ships belonging to that port for declining to take the East India Company T on freight. The towns of Massachusetts were still responding to the Boston town meeting

of November and choosing committees of correspondence, and their proceedings appeared from time to time in the journals. The Boston Committee of Correspondence, keeping a vigilant eye on public affairs, said in a circular to the towns, September 21st, that their enemies were alarmed at the union which they see is already established in this province and the Confederacy into which they expect the whole continent of America will soon be drawn.

Urged that the talk of conciliatory measures by the ministry was insidious and averred that the cause demanded the greatest wisdom, vigilance, and fortitude. The committee appointed by the House of Representatives in a letter, October 21, addressed to the committees of the other colonies, represented that the ministerial measures could only end in absolute despotism

and dwelt on the importance of the Union, so that in whichsoever of the colonies any infringements were made on the common rights of all, that colony might have the united efforts of all for its support. We are far, are its words,

from desiring that the connection between Great Britain and America should be broken. Esto perpetua is our ardent wish, but upon the terms only of equal liberty. The letter closed by urging the necessity

that each colony should take effectual methods to counteract the design of the ministry in the shipment of the teas by the East India Company. There was nowhere a more general or deeper feeling on the subject of the teas than in Boston. The consignees were either relatives or hearty sympathizers with the governor. Two of them were his sons, Alicia and Thomas,

the latter subsequently one of the Mandamus counselors. The others were Richard Clark and sons, Benjamin Faneuil and Joshua Winslow, persons of great respectability. The elder Clark, a Harvard graduate, was a merchant of high standing, one whose daughters married J.S. Copley, the artist, who was the father of the late Lord Lindhurst. All the consignees subsequently went to England, and some had their property confiscated. All eyes were now fixed on the consignees who saw reflected in the press, in excited language,

the tone of public opinion, and could see that it was similar to what it was in other places. The hand bill that was circulated in Philadelphia was printed in all the Boston papers, even in the Tory paper, Drapers, October 25th, and also the proceedings of the people, both of New York and Philadelphia. Still, there was no resignation of the consignees.

As the time approached when the T-ships might be expected, the subject was considered in the North End Caucus, which was composed mostly of mechanics, many of whom lived in this part of the town, and its sessions, at which a mechanic always presided, were miniature town meetings. Warren was one of the members in whose judgment they had great confidence.

This body voted, October 23rd, that they would oppose with their lives and fortunes the vending of any tea that might be sent to the town for sale by the East India Company. These proceedings were secret.

There is no evidence to connect this caucus with a handbill that appeared a few days after, inviting the free men of Boston and the neighboring towns to meet at Liberty Tree to hear the consignees make a public resignation of their office

and to swear to reship to London any teas that might be consigned to them, or with the notice, on the night of the 1st of November, served on the consignees, who were roused from their sleep and, by letter, warned to appear at the same place, and not to fail at their peril. No names were attached to the handbill or letter.

The governor and the consignees, however, regarded Bolt as proceeding from the popular leaders and looked forward to the proposed meeting with deep concern. Hutchinson advised his sons not to be out of town on the day appointed for it. The North End Caucus was again called together, November 2nd, for deliberation on this subject,

when one committee was sent to invite the Committee of Correspondence to meet with them, and another committee invited John Hancock, and thus were assembled the choice Whig spirits of the town. This action indicates good sense, and the importance attached to the occasion.

The proceedings cannot be related in detail. The official record of this session is brief, but the action was to the point and significant. Voted that the tea shipped by the East India Company shall not be landed. On Wednesday morning, November 3rd,

a large flag was raised above the Liberty Tree. The town crier summoned the people to meet at this place and the bells rang from 11 to 12 o'clock. About 500 assembled, among whom were three of the representatives, Adams, Hancock, and Phillips, the selectman, the town clerk, and treasurer, Warren, Molyneux, and several others of the prominent patriots, making a fair representation of the character, intelligence, and wealth of the town. The consignees, Hutchinson says, agreed they would be together, that they might all fare alike,

and were at the warehouse of Richard Clark at the lower end of King Street, with a few of their friends and a justice of the peace. The governor was at the townhouse at the head of the same street. The presiding officer of the meeting is not named. It is related that, the consignees not appearing, a select number went into Liberty Hall

and made choice of seven or nine to wait on the consignees and request their resignation of their trust and, in case they refused or declined to give a pledge not to land the tea or to pay the duty to it, to present a resolve to them, declaring them to be enemies to their country. The committee immediately proceeded in their duty, those named as acting being Misters Molyneux, Warren, Denny, Church, and Jonanot, who were followed by a portion of the meeting.

Hutchinson saw the procession. It might have been as it passed the townhouse, and says there were on the committee citizens of considerable popularity, who were accompanied by a large body of the people, many of them not of the lowest rank. On arriving at the warehouse, some entered the lower story, the doors of which had been left open, while the committee went up the stairs leading to the counting room in which were the consignees, but found the doors closed. A parley was carried on between these parties through an open window, Molyneux acting as a spokesman. From whom are you a committee? asked Clark. From the whole people, was the reply. The names of the committee were then read, and the demand

of the meeting was stated. I shall have nothing to do with you, Clark said. The consignees declined to resign their trust. The resolve was now read, declaring them to be enemies of their country. When the committee returned to the lower story of the building and reported the result, the cry arose, out with them, out with them, and some pushed upstairs. A slight disturbance had occurred from an attempt by Mr. Clark's friends, on a request from the counting room, to close the

doors of the warehouse. This was resisted, and the doors were unhinged and carried to another street. The justice, who, in the king's name, now commanded the peace, was hooted at and struck when the people were persuaded to refrain from further violence. One of the Hutchinsons, with a friend, soon came out of the counting room, passed quite unmolested through the crowd, and joined his father in the council chamber at the head of the street. He had with him less than a quorum of the council,

and did not act. The committee soon returned to Liberty Tree, where they reported informed to the meeting, when the people dispersed. The character of the citizens who gave countenance that this meeting attested its respectability. It reflected the general sentiment and the rough denial of a demand which in other places had been complied with was ominous of the future. It was said by the Tories that the meeting at Liberty Tree was irregular and of no account.

Petitioners for a town meeting now represented, November 4th, the common alarm at the report that the East India Company were shipping cargoes of tea to America that they had reason to fear what more than anything in life was to be dreaded. The tribute would be established and thus by this political plan the liberties for which they had so long contended would be lost to them and their posterity and they prayed for a town meeting to take such steps as their safety and well-being

required. The selectmen issued a notification for a meeting to be held the next day at 10 o'clock in the morning. The meeting on the 5th of November was largely attended, and John Hancock was the moderator. After earnest debates, it was decided that the sense of the town could not be better expressed than in the words of a series of resolves which have been passed at a meeting convened October 18th for the same object in Philadelphia, and these resolves, temperate in

tone but clear in principle and decided in terms, were adopted. They declare that free men have an inherent right to dispose of their property, that the tea tax was levying contributions on them without their consent, that the purpose of it tended to render assemblies useless and to introduce arbitrary government, that a steady opposition to this ministerial plan was a duty which every free man owed to himself, his country, and posterity, that the East India Company importation

was an attempt to enforce this plan, and that whoever countenanced the unloading, vending, or receiving the tea was an enemy to his country. They requested the consignees, out of regard to their character and to the peace of the province, immediately to resign their appointment. The meeting chose a committee to present these resolves to the consignees. It voted that the town expected the merchants, under no pretext whatever, would import any tea liable to duty, and it then adjourned

until three o'clock. At this hour there was again a full meeting when the committee reported that the consignees gave as a reason why a definite answer could not be given until Monday that two of their number, the Hutchinsons, were at Milton and as they chose to have a consultation they could not agree upon an answer until that day. Samuel Adams, Warren, and Molyneux were then desired to acquaint the missers Clark and Mr. Faniel that the town expected an immediate answer

from them, and the committee soon reported that a reply might be expected in half an hour. These consignees, in a letter, gave the reasons why they regarded it as impossible for them to comply with the request of the town, but the meeting voted the letter to be unsatisfactory. A committee, Warren being a member, was directed to wait on the Hutchinsons and request an immediate resignation, and then the meeting adjourned until the next day. One of the Hutchinsons

was at the governor's house at Milton, and the other was at the house of the lieutenant governor in Boston. Faneuil Hall on the next day was crowded. The committee to wait on the Hutchinsons reported that they sought them in vain at Milton, but found Thomas Hutchinson in town, who, in a letter, stated that when he and his brother knew definitely that they had been appointed factors, they would be sufficiently informed to answer the request of the inhabitants.

This cool reply caused great excitement in the meeting. There were cries, to arms, to arms, and the ominous words were responded to by clapping of hands and general applause. As usual, good sense predominated,

and the meeting simply voted that the obnoxious letter was daringly affrontive to the town, and then dissolved. Hutchinson, November 8th, 8th, said that he was trying to collect evidence of the inflammatory speeches that had been uttered, but could find no person willing to give it. Nothing material in relation to the tea question

occurred for a week. No person, it was said, attempted the smallest affront to the tea commissioners. The town was quiet. It was believed that the tea ships were near the harbor, and some of the journals were full of political speculation, some of it inflammatory, but, in the main, strong, well put, statesman-like, and of an elevating character. There is significance even in the names selected for the signatures. They are not of the school of Rousseau, but of Milton.

Sidney says, America seems to be reserved by providence for a land of real freedom that the world may see in these latter days the true glory of liberty. Locke says, it will be considered by Americans whether the dernier resort and only asylum for their liberties is not an American commonwealth. It was evident to the leaders on both sides that things were drifting to the pass of a great exigency, nor did they disagree in the view which they took of the principle at stake.

Hutchinson says that he foresaw that this would prove a more difficult affair than any which had preceded it. He regarded the principle of the supremacy of Parliament to be an issue. With his ideas of the prerogative of the Crown and British sovereignty, he could not think of yielding the point of the whole controversy and he determined to make no concession. He described November 15th with much particularity the state of affairs in a letter to Lord Dartmouth. After remarking that

the people of the town were in a great ferment and that he had done all that he could to preserve the peace without the aid of the council, he says. They, the council, profess to disapprove of the tumultuous, violent proceedings of the people, but they wish to see the professed end of the people in such proceedings attained in a regular way, and, instead of joining with me in proper measures to discourage an opposition to the landing and sale of the teas expected, one and another of the

gentlemen of the greatest influence intimate that the best thing that can be done to quiet the people would be the refusal of the gentlemen to whom the Ts are consigned to execute the trust, and they declare they would do it, if it was their case, and would advise all their connections to do it. Nor will they ever countenance a measure which shall tend to carry into execution an act of parliament which lays taxes upon the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue. The same

principle prevails with by far the greater part of the merchants, who though in general they declare against mobs and violence, yet they as generally wish the teas may not be imported, Hutchinson repeatedly concedes in his letters that the mass of people acted in the conviction that their rights were invaded. This citation presents the merchants in an honorable light, the action of the North End Caucus speaks for the mechanics, and the proceedings of the towns

attest the spirit of the yeomanry. It is worthy of remark that Hutchinson, in his unbending course, stood almost alone for his political friend's advised concession. In this he exactly represented his royal master George III. At this time Lord North was accustomed to reply to remonstrances that his majesty was resolved to try the question. In the words of an English writer, the hazardous experiment was to be attempted on men, many of whose ancestors had fled to the

desert from the tyranny of that martyred sovereign who had the same imprudent propensity for trying questions with his subjects. And the Bostonians stood forth, like their native rocks, sharp, angular, and defiant. Samuel Adams, like the royal governor, believed that he was engaged in an extraordinary work. He wrote, November 9th, to Arthur Lee, One cannot foresee events, but from all the observation I am able to make. My next letter will not be upon a trifling subject.

And in that next letter he characterized the event which he dwelt upon as remarkable as had happened since the commencement of the struggle for American liberty. Though there was a presentiment that an event of great moment was at hand, yet the popular leaders at the helm, Adams, Warren, Hancock, Molyneux, and Young, were subsequently named to the Privy Council as the most prominent, were not moved by the desire to force the town to do a deed for the sake of the name,

but they simply aimed to meet honorably a great exigency. They asked of power no greater concession that had been made elsewhere. A failure to obtain the resignation of the consignees had already created suspicion, and fears began to be expressed abroad that Boston would not meet the expectations of the patriots of other colonies. when the cautious or the timid of the town questioned whether it were not premature to

push matters in this case to extremities it was replied by the bold and determined that if fidelity to the common cause were likely to bring on a quarrel with great britain it was the best time for it to come our credit it was said also is at stake we must venture and unless we do we shall be discarded by the Sons of Liberty in the other colonies, whose assistance we may expect upon emergencies in case they find us steady, resolute, and faithful. The union of the colonies, inchoate

as it was, had become a moral power. In this way, by the force of circumstances, there were engaged face-to-face the actors on this public and even national stage. The post-boy, November 15th, in a semi-official tone said, We learn that His Majesty has declared his attention of supporting the supreme authority and right of the British Parliament

to make laws binding on the colonies, which agrees so precisely with Hutchinson's views of his duty that he might have penned it. He did pen on this day, in the letter to Lord Dartmouth already cited,

these words, The persons to whom the Ts are entrusted declare that, whilst they can be protected from violence to their persons, they will not give way to the unreasonable demands which have been made upon them. When power was thus clinging to every inch of its formal authority, and a determined people

were standing firmly on their rights, there could be no compromise, and so events moved steadily on to the consummation of an act which, in its consequences, proved second only to the Declaration of Independence. A fresh fact, now freely commented on in the press, deepened the interest of the hour. Hutchinson, under his own hand, issued an order to Colonel John Hancock, the captain of the governor's company of cadets, to summon forth with each member to hold himself

ready to appear in arms whenever there might be a tumultuous assembling of the people in violation of the laws, which showed an intention to use military force to suppress public meetings. This company took its orders directly from the governor. It rendered service in the riots of the 26th of August, 1765, was accustomed to parade on holidays, such as coronation and election days,

and was often complimented for its discipline. It occasioned also uneasiness that companies of the British troops stationed at Castle William were now marched into the neighboring towns. There was now quite a respectable naval force in the harbor under the command of Admiral Montague. On the 17th, a vessel arrived from London with the news that three ships for Boston,

under Captains Bruce, Hall, and Coffin, and having the East India Company's tees on board, had sailed down the channel, and that other tea vessels had cleared for Philadelphia, when petitioners to the selectmen, the fourth name being Warrens, stated that the town was alarmed at the hourly expectation of the arrival of the Ts, and apprehending that the consignees might be sufficiently informed on the terms of its consignment

as to be able to give their promised answer to the town, they asked for a town meeting, when the selectmen appointed one for the next day. On the same day, one of the firm of the Clarks arrived in town from abroad, and being in the evening at the house of his father, Richard Clark, on School Street, a mob attempted to get into the door, broke windows, and did other damage, but though a pistol was fired from the second story, vigilant and influential friends of the Patriot

cause promptly appeared, checked the outrage, and persuaded the mob to disperse. No person was seriously injured. The town meeting held the next day was brief, but to the point. Hancock was the moderator. A committee was appointed to wait on the consignees and to say to them that it was the desire of the town that they would give the final answer to the request whether they would resign their appointment, which elicited the following letter. Boston, November 18, 1778. Sir, in answer

to the message we have this day received from the town, we beg leave to say that we have not yet received any orders from the East India Company respecting the expected tees, but we are now further acquainted that our friends in England have entered into general engagements in our behalf, merely of a commercial nature which puts it out of our power to comply with the request of the town. We are, sir, your most humble servants, Richard Clark and Sons, Benjamin Faneuil, for self,

and Joshua Winslow, Esquire, Alicia Hutchinson for my brother himself. The answer was voted to be unsatisfactory, and this last town meeting on the tea question now dissolved. Its calmness and dignity were ominous. This sudden dissolution, Hutchinson says, struck more terror into the consignees than the most minotory resolves. On the next day, November 19th, the consignees, in a petition asked leave to resign themselves and property committed to their care to his

excellency and their honors as guardians and protectors of the people, and that measures might be devised for the landing and securing the T's until the petitioners could safely dispose of them or could receive directions from their constituents. This elicited discussion in the press and debates in the council. It was urged against the scheme that it was no part of the legitimate functions of this body to become the trustees and storekeepers of certain factors

for the East India Company. They might as well become the trustees and storekeepers of all individuals. The council, Hutchinson says, desired me, upon one pretense or another, to adjourn the consideration of the petition of the consignees until the 29th. The consignees now endeavored to secure the landing of the tea that was expected, while the popular leaders were resolute that the tea should never be sold in Boston, though they were ready to agree to a

temporary storage of it until the consignees could have time to consult their principals, provided it was subject to the inspection of a committee of gentlemen. The Committee of Correspondence now invited the committees of Dorchester, Roxbury, Brookline, and Cambridge to meet in conference at the Selectman's Chamber in Faneuil Hall. Having unanimously voted to use their joint influence to prevent the landing and sale of the expected tea, they authorized,

November 22nd, a joint committee of which Warren was a member to address a letter to other towns representing that they were reduced to the dilemma either to sit down in quiet under this and every burden that might be put upon them, or to rise up in resistance as became Freeman, to impress the absolute necessity of making immediate and effectual opposition to this detestable measure and soliciting their advice. Charlestown was so zealous in the cause that its

committee was added. These committees continued to hold conferences, Hutchinson wrote, like a little senate. On this day, November 22nd, the Gazette said, Americans, defeat this last effort of a most pernicious expiring faction, and you may sit under your own vines and fig trees, and none shall hereafter dare to make you afraid. The selectmen, deeply concerned for the peace of the town, Hancock, the commander of the cadets, being one, now had conferences with the consignees

which are related with much particularity in the town records, but need not be dwelt on. Though we labored, John Sculley, one of the selectmen says, night and day in the affair, all our efforts could not produce an agreement between them and the town. The selectmen plainly said to the consignees that nothing less than sending the tea back to England would satisfy the people. Some of the Tory party also at this time urged an arrangement to this effect,

but the consignees would only agree, November 27th, that nothing should be done in a clandestine way, that the vessels should come up to the wharves, and that, when they received the orders that accompanied the teas, they would hand in proposals to the selectmen to be laid before the town. For better security, they retired to the country, and even Hutchinson now thought of going to the castle that he might, in personal safety, more freely give his sense of the criminality of the

proceedings. When the Boston Tea Commissioners had braved public opinion more than a month after their brethren in Philadelphia had resigned, the intelligence spread Sunday morning, November 28th, that a tea ship was in the harbor. It was the Dartmouth, Captain Hall, owned by a Quaker, Francis Roach, two persons whose movements for a few days greatly exercised the public mind. The selectmen, in the expectation of receiving the promised proposal of the consignees,

held a session of their board at 12 o'clock, another at 5 o'clock, and continued its session until 9 o'clock, when they learned that they could not see the consignees that evening, nor could the intelligence of their locality be obtained. The selectmen, seeing the storm rising, desired to get the expected proposals in order that a regular town meeting might be called before any other meeting could take place. The Committee of Correspondence were also in session this day and obtained from the owner of the Dartmouth a promise not to enter her until Tuesday.

They issued a circular letter to the committees of Cambridge, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Roxbury, convening the Little Senate on the next morning. The following characteristic words in the original draft are in Warren's handwriting. you to urge your friends in the town to which you belong to be in readiness to exert themselves in the most resolute manner to assist this town in its efforts for saving this oppressed country. The journals of Monday announced that the Dartmouth had anchored off the Long Wharf,

that other ships with the poisonous herb might be expected, and conceding to the consignees a disposition to do all in their power to quiet the public mind, even to ship the tea back to the place it came from. They repeated the assurance that the tea would not be suffered to be landed or to be sold, for it was the determination of almost all the people, both of town and of country, resolutely to oppose the artful measures of the East India Company in every possible way.

The journals also contained a call for a public meeting to be held in Faneuil Hall at nine o'clock, which had been printed in a handbill form and posted over the town, to make united and successful resistance to the last, worst, and most destructive measure of the British administration. By the side of this call, there was an inspiring voice from the country in the proceedings of a noble town meeting held in Cambridge. How the hearts of the patriots must have throbbed,

and their purpose must have been strengthened by fearless and high-toned resolves, pronouncing Boston to be struggling for the liberties of the country, announcing that the men of Cambridge could no longer remain idle spectators and pledging themselves to be ready at the shortest notice to join the men of Boston and of other towns

in any measure that might be thought proper to deliver them and their posterity from slavery. The brave Colonel Gardner lived here, was one of the foremost of the patriots and redeemed this pledge when he poured out his blood

by Warren's side at Bunker Hill. End of chapter 9, part 1